Heat takes over in PGA's second round

HAVEN, WIS. – Before clouds arrived in the late afternoon and play was suspended, Friday at Whistling Straits golf was a good walk broiled.

It got so hot in the second round of the PGA Championship that players held golf umbrellas over their heads. The Midwest heat and humidity boiled the leaderboard into a bouillabaisse of inspirations and oddities, as we were reminded that the PGA of America doesn't mind holding a tournament where the players can have a little fun.

Before play was suspended for high winds and lashing rain at 5:28 p.m., Jordan Spieth surged and Dustin Johnson sagged.

John Daly threw a club into Lake Michigan, where it was retrieved by a kid in a boat. Phil Mickelson butt-tobogganned down one of Whistling Straits' fescued hillsides, and stuck the dismount.

Hiroshi Iwata set a course record and tied a championship record with a 63, a day after shooting a 77, to make the cut in a major for the first time and become the most random player ever to shoot a 63 in a major. Asked the difference between this round and a 62 he shot in Taiwan, he said, "Just one shot."

Two guys wore tiger suits while following Tiger Woods, and Woods probably wished he could have worn a disguise, as his round was postponed while he was 4 over par, facing a third consecutive missed cut in a major.

Spieth beat Rory McIlroy head to head, then said he hated him. He was joking.

Spieth positioned himself to become the first player ever to win the American Slam — the Masters, U.S. Open and PGA — which would make him even an even more rare athlete than the quarterback who followed him on Friday, the Packers' Aaron Rodgers. "I'd like to meet him," Spieth said, and this time he was serious.

Tony Finau, a working-class kid who learned to play by hitting balls into a mattress in his Utah basement as his brother hit shots into other side of it, surged into contention.

Perhaps the most important development of the day was the best player to never win a major other than Dustin Johnson making his move, right past Johnson, who was playing in the same group.

When the warning horn blew to announce the weather delay, Jason Day's iron shot to the middle of the 15th green was in the air. It tracked toward its target, kind of like the guy who launched it.

"There was trouble lurking there for a second, and the right around the 15th, the horn blew and I was kind of glad that we're in," Day said. "Obviously it's a mess out there, and so I'm just trying to get some rest tonight and go into tomorrow."

Day has been in the lead or within three shots of it after nine of the past 10 major rounds. He looked so confident Friday he frequently bent down to pick up his tee before his drives had crested.

Day and fellow Aussie Matt Jones were tied for the lead at 9 under when the horn blew. Jones played at Arizona State and has never finished higher than 30th in a major. On a crowded and eclectic leaderboard, Day looked like a logical pick to win his first major.

"I just somehow got through it, which is fantastic," Day said. "So I have a putt on 15 to get to 10 under. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. We've got some scoring holes and some tough ones to finish on, but I'm real happy to be done."

Finau, 25, feels like his career is only starting. He grew up idolizing Woods, but finds himself chasing other players who grew up with the same idol. He is two shots off the lead after displaying a remarkably calm putting stroke Friday.

"I'm pretty laid-back," he said. "There's nothing to overthink. I'm hitting pretty nice and the putter feels good in my hands."

Majors are defined by pressure, but on Friday players raced the rain, slid down hills, threw clubs and made birdies before the heavens opened.

Jim Souhan's podcast can be heard at MalePatternPodcasts.com. On Twitter: @SouhanStrib. • jsouhan@startribune.com